FEMA Camps: Jesse Ventura’s Conspiracy Theory Debunked

Last month he was digging up old dirt on a 9/11 cover up. Now Jesse Ventura is at it again—but this time, the stakes are even higher.

Jesse Ventura is one of our greatest conspiracy theorists—which I guess makes it fitting that he has a new show called “Conspiracy Theory.”

I read his book “Don’t Start The Revolution Without Me.” It was pretty good. He makes a compelling point for legalizing drugs and pouring all the money wasted on useless, ineffective drug enforcement into education and energy infrastructure. But it also includes a serious allegation that while governor of Minnesota his house was bugged. Being the state’s top elected official, one would assume the only power with the ability to bug his house is the federal government. And the book concludes with a batshit crazy fantasy sequence in which he gets assassinated (I believe as president) by the shadow forces of the US government.

I have to admit that I love a good conspiracy theory. The anti-authoritarian streak in me that hated my high school principal makes me eager to believe Jesse Ventura’s fantastical theories—even his latest one about FEMA camps. Almost.

The theory goes something like this: FEMA has something like 800 secret “concentration camps” spread around the country, ready and waiting to imprison millions of people under martial law in the case of national emergency, i.e. revolt. Testifying on the Iran Contra scandal in 1987, Ollie North was asked by a congressman about a secret government contingency plan, was overrided by another congressman who said the question was off-limits, and another conspiracy theory was born.

In an episode of “Conspiracy Theory” that airs this Friday, Ventura reveals the supposed FEMA camps with Alex Jones from Infowars.com. It can be hard to definitively debunk a conspiracy theory, but it looks like, at least on one count, Ventura’s theory runs smack into a brick wall. Check out Alex Jones’s teaser for the show below, and take a look at 1:30, where Jones claims he and Ventura caught a peek of the “famous FEMA coffin facility outside Atlanta.”

As Popular Mechanics points out, this “famous coffin facility” is actually the home office of Vantage Products, the largest commercial producer of plastic coffin liners, who supply the material for many of the 900,000 in-ground burials that take place every year in America. As you can see from their site, Vantage is a pretty non-threatening compnay. As you can see on Google maps, they’re located right in Covington, GA—outside Atlanta.

Is Vantage Products actually a FEMA cover-up operation? Now that’s a conspiracy theory I could get excited about. Unfortunately, it’s not the one Ventura and Jones are making. Looks like Friday’s show will spread their very own brand of staged terror. Weak, guys—weak.